Grand Army Has Grand Old Time

March 22, 1992|By Annemarie Mannion.

If you were at the Sheraton Inn last weekend in Naperville, you might have thought you were visiting the ficitious plantation Tara, home of the most southern belle of all southern belles, Scarlett O`Hara.

There were plenty of women dressed like Scarlett in voluminous hoop skirts and escorted by uniformed soldiers who were as handsome as Rhett Butler.

But most of the military men were clad in the blue uniform of the North, not in rebel gray.

That was appropriate because the ninth annual Presidential Grand Military Ball was hosted by a group of Yankees known as the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) Memorial Association, Post 20 of Aurora.

The original Grand Army of the Republic Association was a group of Union veterans who banded together in 1866 to help take care of people left widowed, orphaned or disabled by the Civil War.

Today, the GAR Memorial Association Post 20 preserves a memorial hall and military museum in Aurora with memorabilia from the Civil War, Spanish-American War and World Wars I and II.

Members of the association and their guests at the ball are history buffs and people who enjoy doing Civil War re-enactments.

``This is the kickoff event of the re-enactment season for the Midwest,`` said Richard Haussman, chairman of the ball. He noted that people from nine states traveled to Naperville for the event.

However, this night was not one when participants would sleep on a hard military cot in the great outdoors. Instead, it was an evening of old-fashioned elegance.

The guests ate a lavish dinner and afterwards waltzed and danced the Virginia Reel. This was the part of the gala that Karen Beahler, 23, of Crystal Lake was anticipating.

``I love seeing all the ladies dance in their hoop skirts,`` she said.

Demonstrating how easy it is to wear a hooped skirt, she sat down in a chair.

``See it bends,`` she said.

Most participants chose to wear Civil War-era gear, but Ward Brown of Buffalo Grove came as Teddy Roosevelt.

It was a natural for Brown, who looks remarkably like the feisty president.

When asked for a short interview, Roosevelt (Brown) complied with a characteristic, ``Bully! Good idea!``